Community Chat

[AuntG]

That something blue we saw in the meat as we were browning hamburger in Home Ec class was just some ink from the price tag on the wrapper.  I was ready to throw it out, but the school had a budget so we continued on and made a meal. 

[Noel7]

I learned a lot from my daughter's third grade teacher and it changed my life overnight.

Her kindergarten teacher would ask me to stay after school with her because she never finished her workbook.  Her first grade teacher told me she wasn't learning to read, which freaked me out.  I took her home, sat her down and taught her myself n one day.

I worried about her constantly.  I mentioned that to her third grade teacher, a wonderful, funny and very smart woman.  She told me my girl would do better the next semester in the gifted program.  I told the teacher she wasn't qualified and she looked at me like I was nuts.  She got out the tests and showed me she was more than qualified. 

Honestly, I was finally able to stop worrying and realize I had nothing to worry about.  That same teacher followed my girl for years, keeping in touch until the teacher passed.  She was a wonderful influence on her.

[Yardlie]

 I learned this indirectly from a teacher through her negative example. When I was in first grade attending Catholic school, I had a very mean nun for a teacher. Everyone was afraid of her. There was one little girl in my class who was on crutches because she had had polio. She was up in front of the class reciting a prayer that we were supposed to remember. She got confused, and the nun yelled at her and pushed her down. (Literally...she landed on the floor). The nun would not even help her up. She just sent one of the other children to another classroom to get the little girl's older sister.

My brother was in the same classroom as the older sister. When we came home that night, we told my parents about it. They told us that it was absolutely wrong of the nun to treat anyone like that (particularly a defenseless little handicapped girl who was on crutches). My mother was a devout Catholic who had attended eight years of Catholic school and loved it. However, because of the example that the nun had set, my parents took both my brother and I out of Catholic school. Don't get me wrong...I have nothing against Catholic schools, but this was the only one in our city so we could not just transfer to a different parochial school.

In today's world, parents would have probably reported the incident to the Superintendent of Schools, but the 1950's were a different era.

[house_cat]

Thanks for all the responses - it's just what I needed today :-)

@chickenbutt

A quality teacher knows that she/he might be the only person in a child's life on whom he can depend.  I'm glad you had some positive experiences.

I have a special place in my heart for the boys who don't seem to fit in academically, probably because I had two very intelligent sons who did poorly in school.  I've had countless young men, and some women, come back to visit years later to tell me that I was the only teacher who showed them any respect.  It's so important to find something loveable and valuable about each student - and sometimes you have to dig deep to do that. I'm glad so many of you have had special teachers in your lives.

[Lila Belle]

To be kind to the lowliest employee where you work and to know their name.

To stand up for others. They won't forget it and most will stand up when you need it.

Share what you learn with others.

There is life after high school.

[LTT1]

@house_cat

I had a teacher in the 6th grade who KNEW instinctively that there was something wrong with me. (Withdrawn, etc) I blossomed through her unspoken, yet unwavering support. 

What would I have been like without her?❤

[LTT1]

@house_cat

Can I say that the teachers who befriended me did so through "metamessages."

It is my belief that children cannot verbally explain their feelings.

My teachers who were positive influences communicated non-verbally their support.

The teens I taught would always eventually tell me much more verbally things they didn't think they were telling! But, it took so very much energy for me to read between the lines. And most realized that I was their biggest fan no matter what.

I told them (about math) so? It doesn't matter. Character will help you form a life. Math thinking will come later in life. Most FINALLY got the fact that the " book learning" wasn't life or death. 

One summer when it was time to go back, I just didn't know if I could face it. Then, I saw two of my senior students at the car wash -- they were working--- and they told me "Ms O, I was just flabbergasted and appalled!" My sense of humor was back -- I was ready to begin again💜❤💙

[Pandalady]

@house_catMy 10th grade Biology teacher used to have a saying, "I didn't fall off the turnip truck yesterday."  As a student, I never quite understood why he repeated this frequently but as a teacher, I can certainly understand the message of the importance of having common sense.  That has served me just as well as my masters degree education ever could!

[lilypadfrog]

My history teacher, Mrs. McCue, taught me that just because something is written in a book doesn't mean that's the only answer or viewpoint. She would show us one answer to, say, westward expansion, then show us an entirely different view the next day.  She taught me to think for myself, not memorize.  I am in my sixties but I have never forgotten that junior high history teacher or the lesson she taught me

[Leu]

During my sophomore year, I had to take Geometry. I went into it figuring I'd do well, I had always excelled in math classes, so this shouldn't be different. Oh boy did I struggle! At home, my mother would stress this, "You should be doing better, you're too smart to fail. Your IQ is too high for this!" After failing yet another test, I just burst into tears in my seat. My teacher had me stay after class to discuss it. When I related my distress and disappointment in myself because of my mother's words, Mrs. F said, "My dear girl, it's not about how intelligent you are, it's about how you use that intelligence. I know you're doing your absolute best." I never did improve in that class, and rightfully should have failed, but because I worked so hard, she gave me the one tenth point I needed to avoid summer school. I tell my kids what she said to me all the time, and use me and my husband as a prime example. Official IQ tests say I'm smarter, but he's got three degrees and I have none. 

My guidance ccounselor from that same year had me doing peer counseling. Before each session, and remind us that, "Can't might be defined as cannot, but that isn't what it means here. It means choose not. There's nothing you cannot do, only that which you choose not to do." It didn't make much sense to me at 15, but now I can hear it in my boys when they say they can't do something.